Hampden Sydney College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Hampden Sydney, VA)

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in his history. as among his pupils were two youths who became not only prominent in their respective states. but famous in the annals of thc nation as members of Congress, as cabinet ministers. and as candidates in the Scrub Race in 18124 for the presidency. They were probably not schoolfellows, and certainly not rivals, in that day of youthful ambitions, as Crawford was much younger than Calhoung but it would be interesting to know what their preceptor thought of them and whether any vatieinations that he may have allowed himself regarding the two foreshadowed in any way the careers of William H. Crawford and John C. Calhoun. There a story that President Jackson was also a pupil of his, and that he adduced his old instructor's authority for the char- acteristic way in which he pronounced development. But the anecdote. Without the slightest foundation in fact, while ridiculing'tOld Hickory's illiteracy, which was a byword. and also illustrating a notable trait of his, which some called obstinacy, serves at least to show how widely known Mr. Waddel was as a teacher. lt was while he was thus occupied in Columbia County, that the young school- master and minister. going to fill an appointment to preach in the Calhoun Settle- ment, in Abbernath district. met at her father's house, where he was established. Miss Catherine Calhoun, the sister of the lad, his pupil, who was afterwards to be famous as the Apostle of Nullificationf' The young lady became his wife, but died in child- birth: and after a.n interval of four years. during which the teacher's desk was once more abandoned for the pulpit, he returned to Virginia. and took back withhim as his bride the lady whom he had met when he was a student at Hampden-Sidney. l'lliZ3 Xxvtltlflgflll PlP3.SIlIltS. After four more years of teaching and preaching, Mr. Waddel gave himself up with decision to the cause of education. and founded the Academy of VVillington. The site selected was a ridge not far from the Savannah river, in the same section in which he had previously taught. The people were largely Scotch-Irish and Hugue- nots-Protestants all--and the school became so notable a training-place for the youth of the country far and near that Dr. Ralsay, in his History of South Carolina, gives it highest praise. His account of the subjects taught and the methods pur- sued is given in stately rhetoric, though there were but few innovations made by the master in either direction. It was enough that he was a disciplinarian and thor- ough. French was naturally added to the classic languages, in response to the wishes of his Huguenot patrons. Although there were no bells nor fixed periods, under his masterful rule class succeeded class without. disorder or loss of time. In his disci- pline Mr. 'Waddel employed the monitor system, but combined with it a really novel feature in holding a weekly court consisting of five of the culprit's peers. These im- posed the penalty. which was inflicted by the presiding teacher, and when need arose. the rod was brought into play. His family government was administered with equal success, the six children born to him in his second marriage being apparently models of propriety. although no little may be set down in this admirable result to the fine tact of a devoted mother. The time during which Dr. VVaddel conducted the VVillington Academy was about fifteen years. Among his pupils many became ministers of the Gospel and 16

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in his studies, and when he left the seminary in 173-l at the age uf fourteen, he was so well equipped in the classic languages, mathematics, rhetoric, and philosophy, that there was prompt demand for the young sc-holar's services. He was first engaged to teach a school in lredell, a county adjoining his own, and later at other places. among them Greene County, Georgia. Soon after this the early desire of his par- ents was fulfilled by their ow11 removal to this state. Greene County was selected. although it was on the frontier and had recently been disturbed by the lndians. who had crossed the Oconee from the west and burned the county seat. lVhen in his eighteenth year, while teaching another school not far from his father's new abode, young lVaddel had one of those religious experiences so character- istic of that age and so rarely occurring now. Bunyan's story is once more told in the remorse and despair, followed, after a season, by pardon. peace. and reconciliation with heaven. Like the great allegorist, whose bell-ringing seems to have consti- tuted the special offence that led him to style himself the chief of sinners, young Viladdel found in dancing the alluremcnt that threatened him with perdition. This spiritual conflict and his final triumph led him in due course to embrace the Preach- er's sacred calling, and it was with this high mission before him that, by the advice of the Reverend Jolm Springer, of Abbernath district, South Carolina, he began to prepare himself for entrance in Hampden-Sidney College. This institution. then under the direction of the Reverend Drury Lacy, who was vice-president and pres- ident pro icmpore from 1789 to1797, had had forits first rectors the brothers Stanhope and Blair Smith, graduates of New Jersey College. afterwards Princeton, and it was doubtless the methods introduced by them that in the instruction given at Hampden- Sidney recommended the college to young lVaddel's adviser. The long journey from Greene County, Georgia, to Prince lidward, Virginia, was made on horseback, and af- ter some preliminary study he entered the Senior class in January, 1791. It is interesting to note that among his classmates were a future Congressman, Doctor James Jones, of Dinwiddie County, Virginia, and George M. Bibb, afterwards judge and Senator from Kentucky. He was graduated O11 the 27th of September following, but remained in Virginia until the spring of 1793, during the greater part of this time undergoing the examinations required of him as a candidate for the ministry by the Presbytery of Hanover. A fellow candidate was Dr. William Calhoun, with a branch of whose family he was soon to be more intimately associated. After his return home he se1'ved as licentiate for perhaps a year in South Carolina and Georgia, but no great while subsequent to receiving his ordination in 1794, he united the callings he had hitherto followed singly, and became both preacher and teacher. The functions of the latter. however, gradually predominated in the claims made upon his time, and he was already near the close of his active career when the preacher emerged free from the routine of academic life. During the ten years following his ordination, he taught school successively in Columbia County, Georgia, a.nd Abbernath district, South Carolina. at points not far 1'emoved from each other, although in different sta.tes. This is a memorable period 15

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many took high rank in political life. Ot' the latter class, l,egare'. M4-llafiie, and Petigru. of South Carolina and Cobb. Longstrcet. Gilmer and Appling. of Georgia. may be mentioned. The close of his career as an educator at Willington was coincident with his call to the Presidency of the Georgia. lfnivcrsity. Of this institution, though not the founder. he was the reviver and the first successful administrator. Franklin College. as it was also styled was projected as early as 1784, but opened its doors to its tirst students as late as 1804, and after fifteen years of what seems to have been a sheer struggle for existence, there was a virtual suspension of its functions till Dr. Wad- del was invited, in its darkest. hour. to undertake the task of restoration and im- provement. The invitation, to his earnestly religious nature, camelike a summons to a Heaven-appointeel duty, and in this temper he began and prosecuted the work with such success that in ten years he had started the institution upon a career of usefulness and honor which seems thereafter to have suffered, except presumably during the Civil War, no let or hindrance and. with added funds, to have steadily risen and broadened to the present. time. But even under his strenuous management, the State endowment, though thence- forward sure. was absurdly small, and so remained long after his presidency ended. With a teaching force limited fthe President includedj to four professors and one tutor, and an equipment in buildings and apparatus correspondingly slender, the new executive is not to be supposed to have entertained any plans of greatly broad- ening the curriculum. which for a long time failed to include what was even taught at Willington, the French language. One of the chief objects that Dr. iYaddel had in view may be SllI'llliSCIl from his double calling and his deep convictions in regard to religion-to give a thoroughly Christian character to the works of the institution. Innovations in methods, if made, are not recorded. and there is no mention of his putting on trial what has since been called a college-senate, although he had introduced a similar means of discipline in his own academy. Yet in his higher position his experience in maintaining proper order among the students was not without its difficulties. Testimony varies as to his attitude towards offenders against the rules, but while tirin, as became his character and convictions. he does not seem to have been harsh or unable to shift his point of view. It may be of interest to the modern collegian to learn that the Senior class of that day and institution were required to write and deliver three orations, one at the close of each trimester, to use the German name for the triple division of the Seniors work then prevailingg the Juniors had as now but one to prepare. After managing thus successfully the affairs of the Georgia University for a dee- adc. Dr. Waddel deemed his duty in what he modestly regarded as pioneer work accomplished, and in 1829 he resigned the charge, with the purpose of devoting the remaining years of his life to the ministry, although not so entirely but that he hoped to give a sort of general oversight to another school which was now opened at Wil- lington and placed under the direct control of his youngest son. John Newton Waddel. 17